[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 217 (Wednesday, November 10, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 65152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-25109]



[[Page 65152]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Notice of Availability for Public Comment on Proposed Data 
Management and Communications Standards for U.S. Integrated Ocean 
Observing System

AGENCY: National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Notice of availability is hereby given for a 30-day public 
comment period on proposed Data Management and Communications (DMAC) 
standards for the initial implementation of the U.S. Integrated Ocean 
Observing System (IOOS). The proposed standards are contained in the 
draft Ocean.US Data Management and Communications Plan for Research and 
Operational Integrated Ocean Observing Systems--I. Interoperable Data 
Discovery, Access, and Archive (May 2004). The Plan, developed by the 
Ocean.US office under the auspices of the inter-agency National Ocean 
Research Leadership Council's (NORLC) Ocean Observations Executive 
Committee (EXCOM), provides guidance to ocean and coastal data 
providers regarding data documentation (metadata) and discovery, data 
transport, Internet-enabled data browsing, and data archiving of the 
U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System. The Plan provides additional 
recommendations regarding the incorporation of marine data buoy 
observations into IOOS by way of establishing cooperative 
arrangement(s) with the NOAA National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). Review 
and comment from the public and all interested parties on the proposed 
standards are hereby solicited. All substantive comments received 
during the review period will be considered by a broadly based, expert 
panel convened by Ocean.US for that purpose. The final Plan will 
subsequently be announced in the Federal Register, and the standards 
contained therein shall be adopted for the initial implementation of 
IOOS. Any subsequently proposed modifications or additions to these 
standards shall be subject to public review and comment as described 
herein.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed standards must be received no 
later than 5 p.m. eastern standard time, on December 10, 2004. Written 
comments should be sent to: Ocean.US, Attention: Ms. Rosalind E. Cohen, 
2300 Clarendon Blvd. Suite 1350, Arlington, VA 22201. Comments may also 
be sent via e-mail to the following address: [email protected], 
or by FAX to (703) 588-0872. The Plan is available on-line to 
interested parties from the Office of Ocean.US Web site at the 
following URL: http://dmac.ocean.us/dacsc/imp_plan.jsp. In addition, 
copies of the Plan may be obtained by contacting Ocean.US at the above 
Ocean.US address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about this 
notice, please contact Rosalind E. Cohen, Office of Ocean.US, 
telephone: (703) 588-0854. E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Ocean.US Office, operating by inter-
agency agreement under the statutory authority of the National 
Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP, 10 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.), 
serves as the national agent for integrating ocean observing activities 
(http://www.ocean.us). Ocean.US is also the focal point for relating 
U.S. ocean observing system elements to associated international 
efforts, such as the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) 
and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) sponsored 
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). The U.S. IOOS represents the U.S. 
contribution to the ocean components of these international partnership 
efforts. Key to the realization of the U.S. IOOS is the establishment 
of an integrated DMAC infrastructure. This infrastructure will enable 
users to discover, retrieve, and use data from federal and state 
government, government-sponsored, other public, private, and commercial 
coastal and ocean observing activities regardless of source or 
location.
    In 2002 Ocean.US established a broad-based national IOOS DMAC 
Steering Committee that was charged with developing a plan for the 
assessment of IOOS DMAC standards needs, making initial 
recommendations, and formulating a process by which standards gaps so 
identified could be addressed. This assessment resulted in the current 
DMAC Plan: Data Management and Communications Plan for Research and 
Operational Integrated Ocean Observing Systems--I. Interoperable Data 
Discovery, Access, and Archive, May 2004. The DMAC Plan provides 
prioritized recommendations, with additional concrete guidance to data 
providers, to establish initial DMAC standards and practices for the 
U.S. IOOS. The areas addressed include: (1) Metadata, data discovery 
and data location; (2) data transport; (3) data archival; and, (4) data 
policy.

Review to Date of the Plan and Proposed Standards

    Over the past 18 months the DMAC Plan has undergone several levels 
of review, and substantive comments received at each stage have been 
incorporated into the current May 2004 draft. Comments were received 
from internal and external reviews by national and international 
technical and scientific experts, federal and state ocean and coastal 
resource managers, as well as organized discussions at various national 
and regional professional workshops and conferences. Comments were also 
solicited and received electronically via the Ocean.US Web site. This 
current solicitation formalizes and completes the public review of the 
Plan.

    Authority: 10 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.

    Dated: November 3, 2004.
Richard W. Spinrad,
Assistant Administrator, Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-25109 Filed 11-9-04; 8:45 am]
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